– Analog medium & large format photography weblog –

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I suppose some of the reasons that motivated me to do analog instead of digital photography was the organic feel to film and the specific look (I expected) you’d get, that there would be less post processing (boy was I wrong), and that I didn’t have to look through hundreds of pictures shot at random with my digital camera to find whatever I was going for. I’ve shot several rolls of the above mentioned films but never really taken the time to compare them side by side. Which is what you will need to do to figure out which one you prefer – if any.

Do not worry. Im not gonna go all sentimental on what a gift children is – as I am sure people who have kids are aware of that, and people that don’t are fed up of that kind of talk. However, my son just turned two, and shortly before his birthday I shot the above photo with my 8×10″ view camera on a 210mm lens and bellows fully stretched.

Like so many others, I’m sure, I’ve been comparing photos from these two films to figure out if I prefer one of them over the other. But its not so easy to tell when its different motives under different circumstances. I’ve also been reading other peoples opinions on those films, but figured the easiest way to find out if I find one of them “better” than the other was comparing them side by side myself.

This picture of my then one-year-old boy was among the first sheets I shot. It is not that easy using an 8×10″ large format camera to take a picture of a kid, and it requires a bit of preparing. I sat up the tripod and camera first, getting the light and background that I wanted. My wife then held him over her shoulder in front of the camera so I could focus. I made sure she knew how she was standing and how he was resting over her shoulder. I also made a mark where she was standing so she could stand at the exact same spot. When I had the composition I wanted, I loaded the camera with film. I then measured the light and that’s when it started to get tricky.

I took this photo at my nephew’s confirmation. The picture is of my niece – his older sister. It’s shot with my Hasselblad 500C/M on Ilford Delta 3200. I always use this film when shooting indoors. I’ve never mastered the use of flash to be honest. The film’s characteristics, I find, suits the scene in this wooden church very well – ads a bit of mystery or atmosphere to it.